The archived blog of the Project On Government Oversight (POGO).

Jul 26, 2012

Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the freshest investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's online producer

Jul 25, 2012

From the GAO report Results of Studies on Federal Pay Varied Due to Differing Methodologies

By SCOTT AMEY

Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report entitled Results of Studies on Federal Pay Varied Due to Differing Methodologies (GAO-12-564). The report was requested by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Federal Workforce Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Ross in an effort to learn more about varied findings of federal and private pay gap studies.

The issue of federal vs. private sector pay has been hotly contested, and was the subject of a March 2011 hearing before Chairman Ross’ Subcommittee. Unfortunately, that hearing raised more questions than it answered and GAO was called into to analyze the pay gap issue. The GAO report fails to make any recommendations, but it provides a comprehensive explanation of the legal and practical reality of the federal pay system and why comparisons to the private sector vary in their conclusions about the pay gap. Additionally, GAO analyzed 6 studies, including POGO’s Bad Business report, to better understand the wide variance.

GAO found that the studies used different methodological approaches, methods, and data. That was expected, as we had previously pointed out flaws in the Heritage Foundation 2010 study, which found that “federal employees earn approximately 30 percent to 40 percent more in total compensation (wages and benefits) than comparable private-sector workers.” POGO calculated the federal and private sector compensation gap to be 20 percent, but we emphasized that no one will really know the truth until uniform systems are created and apples-to-apples comparisons are conducted that factor in comparable skills, work experience, education, and other non-pay factors.

That leads me to the overriding concern that I have on the pay gap issue. The debate is important for the limited purpose of complying with the Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act of 1990. However, if the prevailing attitude is, as Heritage has proclaimed (see p. 16), that the private sector is cheaper than the public sector, and therefore we should “Hire More Private Contractors,” then GAO’s time and energy was wasted.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the freshest investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's online producer

Jul 24, 2012

The Project On Government Oversight is urging lawmakers to reduce the government's reliance on private self-regulatory organizations. These self-regulatory organizations, as POGO writes in a letter sent Monday to Congress, are a breeding ground for conflicts of interest and ultimately hurt the public interest.

In particular, POGO cites the National Futures Association, a self-regulatory organization, which has a board filled with industry representatives and collects membership fees from those firms it is supposed to oversee. An organization like this could “have enhanced susceptibility to industry capture,” according to a recent report by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is operating a program that waives erroneous disaster payments in the vast majority of cases. FEMA errors resulted from manual processing errors, duplication of payments, failure of personnel to verify loss, and other mistakes.

According to a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report, the Disaster Assistance Recoupment Fairness Act of 2011 (DARFA) waivers are being granted in nearly all cases. As of June 22, 2012, FEMA adjudicated 7,439 cases totaling $37,094,697 that were initially identified for recoupment. Of that amount, FEMA has granted waivers for applicants in approximately 96 percent of the cases it has reviewed. Specifically, FEMA has granted 7,160 waivers and denied 279 waivers totaling $35,497,327 and $1,594,129, respectively. Additionally, FEMA has expended an estimated $2,589,076 on the program, including planning and implementing provisions of the waiver process, training employees, and conducting waiver activities. For those who weren’t math majors, that means that the government debt waiver program is costing $1 million more than the amount of all program recoveries.

DARFA (see Sec. 565) authorizes FEMA to waive debt owed to the government because of an improper disaster assistance payment if the payment was caused by an error by FEMA, was not the fault of the debtor, and the collection would be against equity and good conscience. A waiver is also dependent on the debtor having a household income of less than $90,000 per year. A household with an annual income of more than $90,000 whose case meets the other qualifying criteria is eligible for a partial waiver. Waivers cannot be granted in cases of fraud by the debtor. The law applies to improper disaster payments made between August 28, 2005 and December 31, 2010.

Last month, a key Senate panel passed a bill setting new requirements for overseas contractors in order to prevent human trafficking. A similar amendment was included in the House's version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act (S. 2234) was passed by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on June 29. The Act requires that U.S. government contractors or subcontractors with contracts worth $1 million or more be monitored and are subject to investigation if they’re suspected to be trafficking persons. These provisions include preventing practices of soliciting a person by false or fraudulent pretenses, providing inhumane living conditions, or charging employees with exorbitant fees that violate the laws of the country from which an employee is recruited.

Human trafficking is a troubling problem among contractors and subcontractors working for the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. In June 2011, POGO disclosed documents revealing labor trafficking by a KBR subcontractor. In its report, POGO revealed that Najlaa, KBR’s subcontractor, faced no repercussions after it deceived workers into believing they had an opportunity for a well-paying job in Iraq. Instead, the workers were placed in revolting living conditions with no work or wages for months.

These few stories of the victims of human trafficking are only the “tip of the iceberg” according to Commissioner Dov Zakheim of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, which produced a major report on the prevalence of human trafficking in Iraq and Afghanistan. Companies are profiting in the name of the American people by exploiting these laborers who are providing daily, necessary services to U.S. troops.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the freshest investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's online producer

Jul 23, 2012

Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the freshest investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's online producer

Jul 20, 2012

Good news from the Hill! Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives finally listened to growing bipartisan support for putting a stop to runaway Pentagon spending.

In a 247-167 vote, members passed an amendment that freezes Pentagon spending at current levels, except for military personnel, the Defense Health Program, and the overseas contingency operations. It cuts $1.1 billion from the defense budget authorized by the House Armed Services Committee.

The passage of this amendment comes on the heels of a letter the Project On Government Oversight sent on Wednesday supporting the bill. The letter was signed by groups as ideologically diverse as the Tea Party and CODEPINK.

“The vote represents a critical turning point in Congressional spending trends and a show of unified support for reform not seen in many years,” POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian said. “The American people expect better. The message was delivered loud and clear.”

Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the freshest investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's online producer

Jul 19, 2012

The Navy and the Marine Corps may no longer be able to hide what really happened at Camp Lejeune—today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced that his committee has published more than 8,000 Pentagon documents related to the water contamination on its website, many of which have never before been seen by the public.

“The Marines and other Americans who have been touched by this environmental disaster deserve nothing but complete candor from their government,” Leahy said today on the Senate floor. “I say to those Marines, we will find out what happened.”

In March, Leahy and a bipartisan group of eight other senators sent a letter to Defense Secretary Panetta, requesting that the Camp Lejeune documents be delivered within two weeks, unredacted. In the past, the Navy has cited all sorts of reasons for withholding the documents, including security concerns about releasing this “critical infrastructure information,” despite the fact that the location of water wells is already public.

Last month, the Navy cited the Privacy Act and refused to release the requested documents until the senators provided “an official request from a committee or subcommittee of jurisdiction.” Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) responded to the Navy with an official Senate Judiciary Committee letter—to which the Navy had no choice but to turn over the information.

According to Senator Leahy’s press release, some redactions were made on the documents made public today, such as “personally identifiable information and information that would be subject to the Privacy Act.”

The publication of these documents isn’t the only good news to come out this week for Camp Lejeune victims. Yesterday, the Senate unanimously passed an important bill that would provide healthcare for Camp Lejeune veterans and their families. The bill now awaits action by the House.

The Tonko-Speier amendmentreaffirms the Senate’s action, proposing to reduce the compensation cap for contractors and subcontractors to $230,700.

For years, the Project On Government Oversight has supported congressional efforts to reduce the burden of federal contracting costs, including contractor compensation, on taxpayers. Compensation based on financial performance is more appropriately paid from corporate earnings or equity rather than as a base contract cost passed onto taxpayers.